Outsourcing firms tax evaders: Obama
Washington, February 12
US President Barack Obama has once again targeted American companies having their operations in India to save taxes back home and called such businesses tax evaders."If you are a business here, entirely located in the US, and investing in the US, and hiring workers in the US, you are paying a 35 per cent rate," Obama said in an interview to the business magazine Bloomberg Business Week.

Clinton undergoes heart surgery
New York, February 12
Former US President Bill Clinton was taken to hospital after complaining of chest pains and has undergone a heart operation, his office said today.

US President to meet Dalai Lama on Feb 18
Washington/Beijing, February 12
US President Barack Obama would meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama
at the White House on February 18, notwithstanding warning from China that it could cause “further damage” to
bilateral ties.

Iraqi children wave banners of the Kurdish Islamic bloc in Arbil on Friday. Official campaigning begins on Saturday for the country's March 7 general election, only the second since now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein was ousted in the US-led invasion of 2003. — AFP

Iran's N-statement political: White House
Washington, February 12
Noting that Iran's statement are often based on politics rather than physics, the White House has said it does not believe in President Ahmadinejad's latest statement on Tehran's capability to produce highly enriched uranium.

Obama to meet Dalai Lama
on Feb 18
Washington/Beijing, February 12
US President Barack Obama would meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House on February 18, notwithstanding warning from China that it could cause “further damage” to bilateral ties.

VVIP wait: Bangladeshi military personnel wait for Turkish President Abdullah Gul to arrive at the National Martyrs' Memorial of Bangladesh at Savar, some 30 km from Dhaka, on Friday. — AFP

Melbourne unsafe? Oz woos Indians to Sydney
Victoria Premier John Brumby, who has been both reluctant and economical in admitting that Indian students have been facing a problem in the state, has again found himself on the defensive; this time from his Labour party colleague and New South Wales counterpart Kristina
Keanally, who is sending one of her minister to India to persuade Indian students to seek admission in Sydney if they feared going to Melbourne.

Pak
military evaluates security scenarioAfzal Khan writes from
IslamabadThe military on Wednesday comprehensively evaluated the country’s security scenario along with the emerging threats and evolved an effective response in case of any eventuality from the eastern border, officials here said. The evaluation was carried out in the 126th Corps Commanders’ Conference which was held at the General Headquarters with Chief of Army Staff
(COAS) General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani in the chair. The Corps Commanders’ Conference was synchronised with the conclusion of the Azm-i-Nau II war game.

Washington, February 12
US President Barack Obama has once again targeted American companies having their operations in India to save taxes back home and called such businesses tax evaders."If you are a business here, entirely located in the US, and investing in the US, and hiring workers in the US, you are paying a 35 per cent rate," Obama said in an interview to the business magazine Bloomberg Business Week.

"However,if you are a multinational and you are investing in India, and your workforce is in India, and your plants and equipment are in India, but your headquarters are here, you are taking deductions on all expenses in India, but you are keeping your profits outside the US; and that just doesn't seem entirely fair," he argued.

"The same is true where you have companies that have 90 per cent of their sales in the US, but are posting 90 per cent of their profits overseas. You get a sense there that the accountants have been busy," Obama said.

Stating that he was all pro-business, the US President said, "Our goal here is simply to make sure that there is an even-playing field between businesses, which are investing in the US, hiring American workers, selling to a lot of customers here as well as overseas. And that is an area where there can be some legitimate debate, but certainly shouldn't be portrayed, somehow, as being anti-business."

Responding to a question, Obama said the US couldn't be the consumer engine for the entire world while America was racking up more and more debts. "The relationship between China and the US is obviously key to that. And I have said publicly, and I will repeat that China and its currency policies are impeding the rebalancing that's necessary.

"My goal over the course of the next year is for China to recognise that it is also in their interest to allow their currency to appreciate, because they have got a potentially overheating economy," he said.

"There is a bunch of bubbles that is being created inside China. What you are also seeing is when China maintains a currency peg to the dollar, it is forcing other countries, particularly in Asia, to do the same," he said.

Admitting that currency devaluation goes beyond China, he said "China is the biggest player. And we are going to have some very serious negotiations. And it's going to be bumpy, because China's entire growth model has been based on exports rather than internal consumer demand for a very long time. And they would be less vulnerable to the vicissitudes of trade." —
PTI

New York, February 12
Former US President Bill Clinton was taken to hospital after complaining of chest pains and has undergone a heart operation, his office said today.

"Clinton is in good spirits and will continue to focus on the work of his foundation and Haiti's relief and long-term recovery efforts," his adviser Douglas Band said. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left Washington and rushed to New York to be with her husband, who underwent the procedure at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Their daughter Chelsea was also at the hospital. Clinton, 63, had two stents inserted into one of his coronary arteries and the procedure. A medical expert told Fox News that "stents are small, mesh tubes that help support the inner walls of the artery. Some are coated with medications that are continuously released into the artery to help prevent a blockage from forming." The procedure is called angioplasty and more than a million Americans undergo
it every year.

In 2004, Clinton had quadruple bypass surgery at the same hospital and was advised by his doctors to give up salty saturated food. Clinton's office in New York is in Harlem and close to the hospital on the Columbia University campus. The American press reported that Hillary Clinton has re-scheduled her trip to the Middle East but could further postpone it. According to CNN, George W Bush, who has been working with Clinton on Haiti earthquake relief efforts, spoke with Chelsea Clinton and "was glad to hear that her father is doing well and that his spirits are high." The former President was reportedly exhausted with Haiti relief efforts that he is doing.

Last week, UN Chief Ban Ki-moon decided that Clinton will lead the international coordination efforts in the earthquake devastated country. ABC news reported that "stress" could have caused the attack. "As we know, Clinton changed his diet and was on cholesterol-lowering medication," a medical expert at John Hopkins University, Jon Resar said. But stress does play a role. But blockages in these bypass grafts can occur despite the fact that someone makes dramatic changes in their lifestyle and does all the right things. —
PTI

Washington/Beijing, February 12
US President Barack Obama would meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama
at the White House on February 18, notwithstanding warning from China that it could cause “further damage” to
bilateral ties.

"The President looks forward to an engaging and constructive
dialogue" with the Dalai on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. This would be the first meeting between the Dalai Lama and
Obama since the latter became the US President.

The announcement of the meeting between Obama and the 74-year-old Nobel laureate comes at a time when China has warned Washington that such a move could harm its ties with the US. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu asked the United
States to immediately cancel Obama's plans to meet the Dalai.

China warns of ‘further damage’

“We urge the US side to fully understand the high sensitivity of Tibet-related issues, honour its commitment to recognising Tibet as part of China and opposing Tibet independence,” Ma said in a statement. The US should cancel the meeting “so as not to cause further damage to Sino-US relations”, he said. —
PTI

Washington, February 12
Noting that Iran's statement are often based on politics rather than physics, the White House has said it does not believe in President Ahmadinejad's latest statement on Tehran's capability to produce highly enriched uranium.

"I think Iran has made a series of statements that are far more political than they are based on politics, not on physics," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at his daily press briefing yesterday. "The Iranian nuclear program has undergone a series of problems throughout the year. Quite frankly, what Ahmadinejad says — he says many things and many of them turn out to be untrue."

"We do not believe they have the capability to enrich to the degree to which they now say they are enriching," he said. Asked if Iran is serious about the peaceful use of its nuclear program, Gibbs said that it should have then taken more seriously the offer of the US, the IAEA and its partners on the Tehran research reactor.

Iran cannot replace and continue to operate the Tehran Research Reactor at its current pace. "So then not taking the IAEA up and its partners up on a very common sense offer leads, quite frankly, the world to believe that Iran has other ideas," he said. —
PTI

Washington/Beijing, February 12
US President Barack Obama would meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House on February 18, notwithstanding warning from China that it could cause “further damage” to bilateral ties.

"The President looks forward to an engaging and constructive dialogue" with the Dalai on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. This would be the first meeting between the Dalai Lama and Obama since the latter became the US President.

The announcement of the meeting between Obama and the 74-year-old Nobel laureate comes at a time when China has warned Washington that such a move could harm its ties with the US. In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu asked the US to immediately cancel Obama's plans to meet the Dalai.

"We urge the US side to fully understand the high sensitivity of Tibet-related issues, honour its commitment to recognising Tibet as part of China and opposing Tibet independence," Ma said in a statement. — PTI

Victoria Premier John Brumby, who has been both reluctant and economical in admitting that Indian students have been facing a problem in the state, has again found himself on the defensive; this time from his Labour party colleague and New South Wales counterpart Kristina Keanally, who is sending one of her minister to India to persuade Indian students to seek admission in Sydney if they feared going to Melbourne.

Asserting that there was a difference between Victoria and New South Wales (NSW), Keanally said: “The difference between Sydney and Melbourne may be lost in the overseas market. We want to send a message that NSW is a welcoming place for international students.”

Keanally’s declaration, which coincided with ‘The Economist’ ranking Melbourne as the world’s third most liveable city after Vancouver and Vienna, drew a strong response from Brumby, who accused his NSW counterpart of dragging down Victoria. “We are the safest state in Australia, full stop. All the statistics on that are unambiguous,” he said while stating that NSW had a higher crime rate. The crime rate in Victoria was 552 per 100,000 persons, which, he pointed out, was half the 1,100 per 100,000 in NSW — a state which is Australia’s most populous and over three times the geographical size of Victoria.

The state of Victoria, which has the largest concentration of Indian students (56,900 out of a total of about 120,000), has witnessed the maximum number of attacks against the Indian community. Between July 2007 and June 2008, the number of people of Indian origin who were victims of crime, including robberies and assaults, were 1,449. This figure rose to 1,525 between July 2008 and June 2009. But the problem of attacks against Indians dates back three years, a fact that Victoria’s Chief Commissioner of Police Simon Overland has admitted. For example, in the first half of 2007, the police admitted to 600 attacks against Indians in the western suburbs of Melbourne alone. The increase in attacks overlapped with a staggering 141 per cent rise in the influx of Indian students in Victoria alone -- from 19,105 in 2006 to 46,038 in 2008.

The Victorian government has been hesitant and been making contradictory statements about attacks on Indians. Brumby, for example, has stated that “assaults on Indians were under-represented in terms of population share” while simultaneously adding his government does not ethnically profile victim groups. On the other hand, Overland has admitted that Indians are over-represented as victims of robberies but not assaults. Yet, at the same time he has admitted that there are “limitations” in the statistics that both Brumby and he have been relying on to inform the public about victims of crime. Overland has been blunt about announcing that he will not reveal these figures because they were “based on a subjective assessment of the victim’s appearance”, therefore “open to interpretation” and hence “problematic” further adding to the confusion and giving rise to allegations that the Victorian government was obfuscating and “in denial”.

However, Melbourne’s high rating as the world’s third most liveable city notwithstanding, a recent state-wide poll revealed that 60 per cent of the respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s record on ‘alcohol-fueled violence’, which has become a problem in this city with the world’s highest concentration of licensed bars and pubs in any central business district. The respondents also ranked law and order in the state as the third most significant issue.

Victoria has the lowest police per 100,000 population at 212 compared to 237 in NSW, 303 in South Australia and a national average of 250. Interestingly, statistics reveal that Indians comprise the most law abiding immigrant group with only 27.4 per 100,000 in prison in 2009, a rate almost eight times below the Australian-born average of 203.3 per 100,000 adults.

The military on Wednesday comprehensively evaluated the country’s security scenario along with the emerging threats and evolved an effective response in case of any eventuality from the eastern border, officials here said. The evaluation was carried out in the 126th Corps Commanders’ Conference which was held at the General Headquarters with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani in the chair. The Corps Commanders’ Conference was synchronised with the conclusion of the Azm-i-Nau II war game.

The commanders were given a comprehensive briefing on the concluded war games, in which, through a systematic and professional discourse, response to existing as well as emerging threat scenarios was evaluated. The corps commanders expressed their satisfaction at the evolution of a comprehensive and integrated response. The COAS also shared with the corps commanders his interaction with NATO commanders during his visit to Brussels and said Pakistan's view point on the war against terror was effectively presented.

Meanwhile, a Pakistani Cobra gunship crashed while in action against militants in the Khyber Agency on the Afghan border on Wednesday. An army official said the helicopter's pilot and gunner lost their lives in the incident.

Adam Ferguson, a
photographer for VII Mentor Program for The New York Times based
in Australia, won the first prize in the Spot News Singles
category for this picture of an Afghan woman being rushed from
the scene of a suicide bombing in Kabul. — Reuters

Nepal's prez to visit India from Feb 15
KATHMANDU: Nepalese President Dr Ram Baran Yadav will visit India from February 15 in a bid to deepen the special relationship between the two neighbours. President Yadav's visit comes amid stepped up efforts by the main Opposition party UCPN-Maoist to whip up an anti-India campaign in country. — PTI

Fatwa against airport body scanners
Washington: Some Muslim-American groups are supporting a fatwa issued by a body of Islamic scholars forbidding Muslims from going through full body scanners at airports, a media report said. The Fiqh Council of North America issued the religious ruling this week that says going through the airport scanners would violate Islamic rules on modesty, Free Press reported. "It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women," reads the fatwa issued on Tuesday. "Islam highly emphasises haya (modesty) and considers it part of faith. —
IANS

Major quake hits Bali
Jakarta: An undersea earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck off Indonesia's Bali island on Friday, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said. The quake occurred at 1.43 am, at a depth of 10 km under the seabed, 210 km southwest of Bali, an official of the agency told Xinhua. No tsunami warning was issued. Indonesia sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone called the "Pacific Ring of Fire".
— IANS